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The Genitive Case

The genitive case in German is used to indicate possession or relationships between nouns. It answers the question "whose?". Although the genitive case is less common in modern spoken German, it remains important in written language and formal contexts.

When to Use the Genitive Case

The genitive case shows possession, origin, or relationships:

• Das Auto des Mannes.
  (The man’s car / The car of the man.)

Here, des Mannes is in the genitive case, showing that the car belongs to the man.

Articles in the Genitive Case

• For masculine and neuter nouns, the article des is used, and an -s or -es is added to the noun (e.g., des Mannes, des Kindes).
• For feminine and plural nouns, der is used, with no change to the noun (e.g., der Frau, der Kinder).

Common Genitive Prepositions

Some prepositions always require the genitive case, including:

• während (during)
• trotz (despite)
• wegen (because of)
• anstatt (instead of)

Example:

• Wegen des Regens (Because of the rain)

Genitive in Modern German

In everyday speech, the genitive case is often replaced by the dative case with prepositions like von (of):

• Das Auto von dem Mann (The man’s car) is more common in conversation than Das Auto des Mannes.

While the genitive case is becoming less common in spoken German, it is still important for formal writing and specific prepositions. Knowing the genitive case allows for more sophisticated language use and is essential for reading and understanding written texts.